There are far more African billionaires than previously thought, Ventures magazine said Monday in a report on the continent’s mega-rich, but the number of Africans living in extreme poverty has also shot up.

Previous Africa-rich-lists named as few as 16 billionaires, but Ventures said its exhaustive research had identified at least 55 on a continent where the wealthy often fiercely protect details about their fortunes.

The pan-African business magazine said it was able to uncover dozens of new billionaires by using “on-the-ground knowledge” to overcome hurdles that may have “hampered” other researchers. Of the 55, 20 are Nigerian, including several oil barons, while South Africa and Egypt boast nine and eight respectively. Ventures’ supported reports by Forbes which listed Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote as Africa’s richest man with a fortune of $20.2 billion (15 billion euros).

Dangote, who made his fortune in cement, heads a multi-interest empire, profiting from products including flour and sugar, while eyeing a massive investment in oil refining. The continent’s richest woman is Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija, whose Fama Oil owns an offshore oil block, which she acquired in 1993 “at a relatively inexpensive price”, likely through a helpful connection, the magazine said. Alakija studied fashion in London, then made dresses for Maryam Babaginda, the late wife of Nigerian military dictator Ibrahim Babaginda.

The former designer “is believed to have ridden on the crest of this relationship to acquire an oil block,” off the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, said Ventures. The most prominent South African named is Nicky Oppenheimer, worth an estimated $6.5 billion, whose fortune came largely from the diamond mines his family controlled for decades, which were operated by De Beers.

Oppenheimer sold his family’s stake in De Beers two years ago. The figure of 55 is “actually an under-estimate” of Africa’s billionaires, Chi-Chi Okonjo, the founder of Ventures, told AFP. “People are not comfortable disclosing their wealth,” he said.

Corruption is rife on the continent and the rule of law still unevenly applied. African business moguls often face accusations that their fortunes were illegitimately earned, including with extra-legal help from political patrons. The apparently rising number of ultra-rich Africans has come amid broader economic growth on the continent, which has seen an average of five percent GDP expansion since 2010. But economic growth has not kept up with a rising population.

“There are more than twice as many extremely poor people living in sub-Saharan Africa today (414 million) than there were three decades ago (205 million),” the World Bank said in April. It is the only region where “the number of poor people individuals has risen steadily and dramatically,” over the last 30 years, the bank said.

Are you saying Dangote could be exonerated in the thieving game? Well, I’m not sure. Beside, he’s the sole importer of this and that. If somebody from the south, especially the SouthEast, had that opportunity, a ban on the importation of the said items could have been advocated and entrenched long ago. Stockfish and secondhand clothes are few examples! Let’s hope he continues with the good work and not to become a sponsor of local and international T tomorrow. Pls don’t ask me what T means!! THE FOOLS WE ARE! PITY!

Yeah trust naija 2 be first with their ill gotten money…. Dangote we all knw buh 4 many others whose wealth don’t even go a generation bak probably hav Effcc questionz 2 answer….. I wont be suprised if Obori made the list

who made this list? i want to know why my name is not included among african billonairs? infact they hav to make a new list and add m name.dont they know that am richer than most of these people on this list.my money is not an oil stolen money ok. i made my money in a very geniue way.

Such publication resurrects the thieving spirits of Nigerian politicians more than anything. I wonder why the name of FKK did not appear! It may be why he’s engaged in head-banging for a come-back that will put his fidgeting fingers into another kind of action–and one that he knows best–embezzlement. His ambition to be in the list was cut short–and very short indeed–by the frustration OBJ met in his bid to go for a third, and a forth, and ….God knows how many terms they had in mind! Another point! Even with a thousand billionaires in that country, It will take Nigeria 300 years to get to the position America was in the 60s. Some may be wondering why I didn’t compare Nigeria with 21st century America. My simple answer is that, with the Psychopath, called, FKK and his ilks in the current equation, it might take weeks to arrive at any reasonable answer, and which might run into five times the figure I stated above. Pit Nigeria.

PLEASE IT WOULD BE NICE IF THESE BILLIONAIRE USE THEIR MONEY TO GET RID OF ALL THE SLUMS IN NIGERIA, AND PLEASE CREATE JOBS, AND BUILD LOW COST HOUSING ,FROM BEDSIT, ONE BEDROOM FLAT TWO BEDROOM FLATS, PLEASE DO IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AND PLEASE DO NOT FORGET BOKO IRANU , IF MONEY CAN BUY THEM PLEASE DO IT SOONER

@ saheed or wht ever u called ur self, i obinna returned ur poverty back to u. son of a bitch. u will remain poor all dee days of ur life ok. am made already. the lord God almighty hav given me the treasure of hiden riches ok. and he has cut in pieces the gates of iron bars in my life ok. poor femi kayode brother. yoruba people omo oleshi.